Crossed Strings
by flipomatic
Summary: "I would like to challenge." Eli said a little quicker than intended. She fought a flush as the whole orchestra looked her way. To Eli's left, Maki had turned to stare at the older student, her purple eyes narrowed.
1. Chapter 1

Author Note: Hey everybody, this is a new fic I'm working on for NaNoWriMo 2016. It is a very very slow burn NozoEli, so buckle your seat belt and get ready for a long ride.

* * *

Glossary:

String Orchestra: An orchestra consisting of violins, violas, cellos, and string basses. It has 5 sections total, including two violin sections.

Dynamics: Markings that indicate the volume to play at. Fortissimo is marked by ff, and means to play extremely loudly. It is usually the loudest dynamic use. The next one is forte, which is marked by f. It means to play loudly. Mezzo forte, mf, is next, and it means to play at a medium volume. Mezzo piano, mp, is a little quieter that mf. Piano, p, means to play quietly, and pianissimo, pp, means to play extremely quietly. Most pieces do not go louder that fortissimo or quieter than pianissimo.

BPM: Stands for beats per minute. Lower numbers indicate slower songs while higher numbers indicate faster ones.

Shoulder Rest: A small object that attaches to the bottom of a violin or viola to help hold it on the shoulder of the player. Google it if you are interested in seeing what once looks like.

Crescendo: A steady increase in volume. Playing in one dynamic and slowly raising the volume to another dynamic. Playing louder over time. Marked in music by a big greater than sign.

Decrescendo: The opposite of a crescendo. Playing quieter over time. Marked in music by a big less than sign.

* * *

August 27th

When Eli moved across the country she wasn't sure what to expect. She'd lived in Florida for her entire life; she'd never even been out of state before. When she had to pack up and move to Michigan she had no idea what the future would bring. She made sure to pack all of her belongings, which all fit in about five large boxes. Subsequently, those boxes fit into her car for the long drive north. She moved during the summer, and though she'd already been there for a few days it didn't feel real until her school schedule arrived in the mail.

The mail came while Eli was working on unpacking her belongings. She'd arrived a few days before, but had only unpacked one of the boxes. Her Grandmother's apartment had a guest room which she converted into a bedroom for Eli. Arisa, Eli's younger sister, took over the den as her space. The plan was for Eli and Arisa to stay there until they finished their schooling. Eli wasn't sure about staying through college; she'd already applied to schools in Florida.

The room itself contained a queen-sized bed, a dresser, a closet, a window, and a desk with a mirror on it. If Eli looked out the window she could see the rare car drive by. The furniture filled most of the room, but once Eli cleared out the boxes invading the space she'd be able to move about the room freely. As it was, she could only take a few steps in from the door. She had to hop over a box to reach her bed, and then another to reach the dresser.

Eli started that day with unpacking the box preventing her from entering the room properly, which just happened to contain one of her most prized possessions. When she was packing, Eli thoroughly wrapped the item in bubble wrap to keep it from being damaged. She put it in a box full of packing peanuts and hoped it would be enough. Her knees were starting to stiffen up from the strain after only a few jumps.

As she cut the tape on the box, she thought it looked unharmed. She pulled the item out, making sure to leave stray peanuts in the box. After cutting the bubble wrap with care, Eli opened the case to check on the instrument. Her viola looked the same as normal, and her bow survived the journey as well. The strings had slipped slightly out of tune, but that was easily fixed. The bow was in decent shape and only needed to be tightened a little before use.

As Eli was admiring the instrument she heard a soft knock on the door. Her Grandmother stood in the entrance, holding a large pile of envelopes. She reached toward Eli with one of them as the teen closed her case and turned to face her.

"Dear, a letter came from the school." Her Grandmother said quietly as Eli reached over to accept the envelope. It read on the front 'To Eli Ayase' and the return address was to a school called Otonokizaka High School. Eli had officially transferred over the summer, and she was all set to start as a senior during the 2016-2017 school year.

As Eli ran one finger under the sealed paper, she wondered what the year would have in store for her. She peeled the envelope open, removing the folded paper with care. Unfolded, it revealed her schedule for the year. Her schedule looked like this:

1st Hour Pre Calculus – 506 – Kurosawa

2nd Hour Symphony Orchestra – 102 – Sakurauchi

3rd Hour Physics – 804 – Tsushima

Lunch

4th Hour World History – 704 – Kunikida

5th Hour Spanish – 613 – Watanabe

6th Hour English – 408 – Ohara

Eli's eyes were immediately drawn to 2nd hour, symphony orchestra. She had sent in an audition via video recording for the orchestra, and was confident that it would be good enough. Ms. Sakurauchi, who she spoke to over the phone, said there were two different orchestras she could be placed into. The symphony orchestra was the better one, while everyone who couldn't cut it was placed in the Philharmonic Orchestra. Luckily she'd made it. She wasn't sure how her Grandmother would react if she were in the other one; it was a matter of family pride.

Another important aspect of the schedule were the classroom numbers. Eli made note of them in her mind, hoping that they wouldn't be too difficult to find on the first day of school. Her locker number and combo was also listed on the paper, so she took a photo of it with her phone. She wanted to be all ready for the first day of school.

"How does your schedule look?" Eli had almost forgotten about her Grandmother standing in the doorway as she looked back up in surprise. Oops, she thought to herself, she hadn't been paying attention again.

"It looks good." Eli replied with a small nod. "I got into the orchestra."

"That's my girl." Her Grandmother moved as if to reach for a hug, but pulled back as she reconsidered stepping over the boxes. "I've got some sandwiches in the fridge if you get hungry. I'm going to give Arisa her letter next."

"Thanks." Eli waved her out. She looked down at the schedule again, smiling softly at the creased paper. She was going to make this year work. Even if her whole life was upside down, with orchestra she could make it work.

With a small grunt, Eli hoisted her viola case onto the bed. She re-opened it, undoing the small strap holding the instrument in place. The A string made a sad flat sound, and she turned the tuning peg until the A sounded about right. A quick grab of the shoulder rest and a tightening of the bow and she was ready to tune the rest of the instrument. She gave each string careful consideration, slowly bringing them all into tune.

The rest of her unpacking could wait. After all, school was starting soon and she needed to be prepared.

* * *

September 6th

"beep beep beep beep beep click"

Eli reached over with one hand to shut off the device that interrupted her precious sleep. It went off right on time, bright and early at 5:30. Despite it's timeliness, Eli groaned at it in annoyance. She asked herself for not the first time why high school started so early in the morning.

She reluctantly rolled out of bed to start getting ready for the day. Things she needed to do included pick what to wear, pack her school bag, not forget her viola, decide how much makeup to put on, and make sure her hair was perfect. She wanted to make a good first impression at school.

By the time Eli was ready to leave it was already 6:30. According to her schedule, the first bell would ring at 7:15, so she needed to be at the school by 7:00. She stuffed her backpack into her small car, which she'd bought during Junior year in Florida, along with her viola, which she set down with a bit more care. She drove away from the apartment at 6:40 and pulled up to the school at 6:55. It took her a few minutes to find a parking space in the large lot, but once she did she took her belongings and entered the building.

The school was about the same size as the one she attended before. It consisted of long crisscrossing hallways and was built almost entirely out of large white bricks. Students milled about in the halls, greeting each other after the summer and catching up on the gossip. They barely noticed the new student among them.

Much to her surprise, Eli was able to find her locker with relative ease. It was right near the entrance to the school, so she just followed the locker numbers until she found it. It took a couple tries to enter her combination correctly, but she was able to complete the task. Once the locker was open she had to decide what to put in it. At her last school, she carried her backpack around during the day, but kept her instrument stored in the band wing. It looked like it would fit in the locker, and she didn't want to carry it to her first class, so Eli made a decision.

She lifted the case up and turned it sideways, measuring the length and width with her eyes. It looked like it would fit. With one exaggerated motion she shoved the case into the locker. It protested around the edges, but did slide in with a second good push. Closing it took a little extra force as well, but it did stay shut. This way her viola would be safe until orchestra.

Satisfied with her work, Eli took a step back from her locker. She looked around, and tried to remember what room her first class was in. She drew a blank, so she had to pull her backpack off to look for her schedule. Near the first hour Pre Calculus marking she saw what room it was. Unfortunately, her brief walk through the school hadn't help her learn where any of the classrooms were. If she didn't want to stumble lost around the school, she would need to ask someone.

She glanced around at others in the hallway, looking for a good candidate. She saw a couple of tall guys drinking energy drinks, and decided to keep looking. The next person she saw was a girl who looked to be close to her age. She wore her purple hair in pigtails, and was watching people walk by with piercing green eyes. Eli's breath hitched in her throat at the sight of her; something about this girl caught her attention. Perhaps the girl might be willing to help Eli find her classroom. Even though she needed help, she hesitated. What if the girl laughed at her, and then hated her forever? That would be awful, not to mention a terrible first impression.

No, Eli told herself firmly. Nothing like that would happen, now go talk to her you coward.

Eli spurred herself to other side of the hall where the girl leaned on a locker. "E-excuse me." She cursed in her head for stuttering as her heartrate surged. "Do you know where classroom 506 is?" She did it, somehow.

The girl tilted her head as she looked Eli up and down. "Yeah, do you want me to show you where it is?" She offered as Eli breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yes, please." She managed to say. The other girl nodded and gestured for Eli to follow her. The pair set off down the hall, with the other girl maintaining pace a few steps ahead of Eli.

"So you're a new student?" The girl looked back over her right shoulder to talk to Eli, while somehow managing to maneuver through the crowd.

"Yes, I just moved here this summer." Eli kept her eyes forward as she followed, making sure not to bump into other students.

"Welcome to Otonokizaka." The other girl came to a halt in front of a classroom. "Here's your stop," she said with a grin. Eli looked at the door in amazement. She remembered walking, but she wasn't sure how she'd actually gotten there. It felt like barely any time had passed since they left the lockers.

"Thanks." She said kind of awkwardly. Eli inhaled as if to say something else, but decided against it.

"Feel free to ask me if you're ever lost, the school is kind of a maze." The purple hair girl winked, and Eli felt her cheeks flush pink. "See you around." She waved once before setting off down the hall, probably to arrive on time to her own class. Eli stared after her for a long moment, fighting to get her cool back. The end results were good, she did make it to class, but she stuttered and embarrassed herself in front of someone in the process.

Eli entered the classroom in kind of a daze, picking a seat at random to sit down in. She chose a seat near the front, since Pre Calculus was not her strongest subject. The teacher, Ms. Kurosawa, was a woman in her thirties with long dark hair. She nodded at Eli when she entered, but didn't offer any greeting other than that.

When the bell rang a few minutes later, Eli realized that she never got the name of the girl who helped her. That was okay really, maybe the girl would forget about the stuttering if they didn't know each other's names.

* * *

After Pre Calculus, which felt like it took far too long, Eli's next class was Symphony Orchestra. Since she hadn't been paying attention earlier, she knew finding her way back to her locker would be a challenge. She knew she had to turn left out of the room, but exactly how far to walk and where to turn after that was beyond her.

After stalling for a moment, Eli decided to just wing it. Worst case she ended up at orchestra without her viola, which would actually be quite embarrassing. She started walking down the hall, keeping an eye on the locker numbers. Somehow, after closing her eyes and randomly picking two turns, she made it back to her locker. Eli had to look the combo back up to open it, but she was able to recover her instrument. It was hard to pull out of the locker, since it barely fit inside in the first place.

Once it was released, the next task was to find the orchestra room. She was pretty sure she saw an arrow pointing to the auditorium up on the walls in the building, and the orchestra room was usually right near the auditorium. At least, that was how it was in her old school.

She set off in that direction, keeping her ears perked for the sound of strings. She followed the arrow through one left turn, then burst out of a crowd into students into a nearly empty hallway. At the end, there were three sets of doors. The one on the left had windows leading to the outside, while the one on the right led to another hallway in the school. Dead ahead lay the entrance to the auditorium. Eli's eyes darted back and forth with the prospect of choice, but her only real option was to turn right.

After she pushed through the door she heard the familiar sound of tuning strings. It drifted from a propped open door at the end of the short hallway. Eli double checked the number as she approached, confirming that it was the right room.

As she entered, Eli felt her heart rate settle. The familiar tiled floors and open space invited her in. Chairs sat in their typical arcs with small gaps between each section. Most of the students had already arrived, and some had started tuning. The first and second violin sections consisted of about twelve people each, while the cellos had about eight and the bassists in the back had three. None of the cellists or bassists had instruments yet, since they needed to be assigned school ones. The section Eli strolled towards, the viola section, had seven people sitting in it. In the last row there was one extra seat.

Eli hesitated before sitting down in it, since she definitely wasn't a last person in the section kind of player. At her old school she'd sat first. But all the other seats were taken, and if she wanted to move up she'd actually have to talk to someone. Eli paled at the thought, convincing herself to sit down in the empty chair. She cast a short glance at the boy sitting next to her, and was grateful that he was too preoccupied with fighting with his strings to notice her. Every time he turned the peg for his A string, it slipped right back out of tune.

Her instrument case went to her left, and her backpack went beneath the chair. She unlocked the case and pulled it open, removing her viola along with the bow and the shoulder rest. Once it was all together, Eli joined the rest of the class in tuning. A small smile formed on her face; finally something felt familiar here.

Less than a minute later the bell rang. Its last tones died out as a young woman with long red hair emerged from what looked like an office. She carried a large pile of papers in her arms, that from a distance looked like music. Hopping up onto the podium, she smiled out at the class.

"Hello everyone, my name is Ms. Sakurauchi. As many of you know I teach orchestra here." That got a chuckle from a few students, but Eli wasn't sure why it was funny. "We're going to do a few things today, including sight reading some of our new pieces and assigning instrument lockers. Please take one and pass back the music coming to you right now." Ms. Sakurauchi took a small portion of her stack off the top and handed it to the first stand of first violins, then another to the second violins, and then the violas. Eli stopped watching Ms. Sakurauchi when the first piece of music reached her hands.

As each piece was passed back, Eli looked over them carefully. One caught her eye. It was a piece by Tchaikovsky titled Serenade for Strings. Ms. Sakurauchi had given them the first movement along with the last one. The first movement, titled Pezzo in forma di Sonatina, looked manageable to Eli. It was marked in 6/8 time with a tempo marker of andate non troppo. Eli wasn't sure what non troppo meant, but she knew andante meant that it would start slowly, at about 70-80 beats per minute. The piece was in C major, which was kind of a relief. That meant there would not be any sharps or flats to mark from the beginning. The first measure was marked fortissimo, and Eli circled that marking with her pencil. She went through the piece in this manner, marking changes in tempo or volume. She also circled part D because it looked like it would need extra practice. By the time she was done it was the viola sections turn to receive their locker assignments.

Eli left her instrument on her chair as Ms. Sakurauchi called the group over to the lockers in the corner opposite of the entrance. "Alright viola section, these will be your lockers. The first one here belongs to Maki." She handed a red headed girl Eli presumed to be Maki a slip of paper that probably contained the locker combination. "The second one is Eli's." The slip of paper felt small in Eli's hand, as if she might lose it at even the slightest disturbance. She looked down at the combo and vowed to commit it to memory.

After Ms. Sakurauchi finished assigning the viola lockers, Eli went back to her seat to continue looking at her new music. She was in the process of trying to decide whether a note should be up bow or down bow when the cellists left to get their cello assignments. Eli glanced their way for only a moment, but that was long enough to see something surprising. The girl who helped her earlier was in the cello section. She grinned happily next to a more serious looking girl with dark blue hair.

As Ms. Sakurauchi started assigning them cellos, Eli kept her ears turned that way to try and learn the girls name. She was barely able to hear them, but she managed to make out the name Nozomi. That was a good name; she thought it suited the friendly girl.

That information was not enough to get Eli to start a conversation with her though. She'd already embarrassed herself by not knowing how to get to class and not being able to speak properly, why make it worse?

Making a point to not look over at the cellos, Eli focused on being ready for sight reading. She marked up the finale as well, making note of the andante tempo, the G major key, and the time signature which was 2/4.

By the time she was done all of the cellos and bassists were ready to tune. Ms. Sakurauchi took to the podium, pulling the classes' attention back to herself. She raised one hand and gestured for the first chair violinist, a young woman with bobbed brown hair, to play a tuning A. She did so, and Eli raised her viola to check her tuning. She sounded ok, so she quickly checked the other strings as well. Each student did the same, and after about thirty seconds the whole orchestra was as close as they were going to get to in tune.

"We're going to start with the Tchaikovsky. Set your page to movement one." She waited for the flutter of papers to die down. "This is in 6/8 time, so make sure to count in threes. The tempo starts slow, so watch me for every beat." She raised her arms, and Eli put her instrument in place. Eli's fingers aligned over the two notes she needed to play in the first measure. Ms. Sakurauchi gave them three beats, then they were off.

The first thing Eli noticed as she played was that the boy in her row was very out of time and out of tune. He seemed be sharp one note then flat the next. She also noticed that the two girls sitting in front of her were only slightly better. They played a few lines before Ms. Sakurauchi cut the group off and grinned at the orchestra.

"Not bad for your first time, I think we can handle this piece. Now let's try that opening again. Make sure you're coming in at fortissimo. Don't be afraid to attack that entrance, and make sure you don't miss the crescendo in measures five and six." She raised her arms in a familiar motion, and Eli was prepared.

They played the same part a few more times before moving on to the next segment of the piece. The group had trouble dropping dynamics like the piece wanted them too. Eli in particular struggled with playing quietly, so when she was knocked down to mezzo forte, then piano, then pianissimo, that didn't work easily for her. Nobody could hear her when she played pianissimo, which went against the point of playing. Ms. Sakurauchi scolded their whole section for it, and the group tried again.

Before Eli knew it, it was time to pack up. She looked over at the clock in annoyance, for once wishing that a class would be longer. After popping her case open and stowing her viola, she carried it over to where her new locker was. The code on slip of paper worked, and she was able to deposit her precious instrument in a safe place where it wouldn't get stuck.

"Hi there!" Eli's muscles tensed involuntarily as a chipper voice sounded near her left ear. She spun to face a younger teen with short orange hair and bright yellow eyes. The girl bounced on the balls of her feet as if she couldn't stand still, her hands intertwined in front of her.

"Hello." Eli said to be polite, unable to meet the fierce stare.

"My name is Rin!" The volume level at which Rin spoke was too much for this space. "I heard that you were new and I wanted to introduce myself." Eli thought the girl might go for a handshake, but she didn't. "I'm a sophomore and I play the violin and I sit waaaay over there." Rin gestured with both of her hands.

"I play the viola." Eli contributed to the conversation before glancing over at the clock. "By the way, do you know how to get to room 814?" She thought she might as well ask while another student was there; that way she could avoid a third embarrassing conversation.

"Oh yeah, you go out the door, make a left, take the next left, go straight, make a right, then it's down the hallway on the left." Rin nodded once in affirmation.

"Thank you." Eli wasn't sure what else to say, so she nodded, finished locking her viola away, waved once at the energetic sophomore, and left. She had another class to find, and based on those directions it wasn't going to be easy.


	2. Chapter 2

Author Note: Here is chapter two. Enjoy Eli being super awkward, but also good at the viola.

* * *

Glossary:

Tuning: When string instruments tune they have to tune all four of their strings. They start with the A string, which is the second highest string for violins and the highest string for violas and cellos. Once the A string is in tune they play it along with the strings next to it and adjust until it sounds in tune.

Scales: A series of eight notes associated with a key signature. Contains specific flats or sharps. Practicing them is a fundamental part of learning to play an instrument.

Vibrato: A rapid slight variation in pitch, caused on string instruments by a back and forth motion of the left hand. An advanced technique.

Tempo: The speed of a piece.

* * *

Eli managed to make it to physics, but to her dismay she made some wrong turns and ended up late. By the time she burst through the door class had already started. Ms. Tsushima, the physics teacher, grinned evilly at the opportunity to make the tardy student suffer. Or at least, that's how it felt to Eli.

She had to go to the front of the room and aid in the first experiment of the year. Eli never figured out what was supposed to happening, all she knew was that it exploded. Luckily, she didn't get burned and the fire alarm didn't go off.

When Eli left physics she had more questions than answers, but she guessed that was the whole point of blowing something up on the first day, besides the fact that Ms. Tsushima said she liked starting fires.

After Physics was lunch. Eli had spotted the lunch room in her earlier travels, so she walked in what was definitely the right direction with confidence. After a minute or so she smelled the delightful scent of cafeteria food and saw the line piling out into the hallway. She stepped into the line, hopeful that it was the one that sold full meals. She brought cash to put on her lunch account, which should be enough for the first week.

The queue moved forward slowly as each student made their purchases. Eli didn't look behind her, but she could hear the other students in line chatting away.

"Umi pleaaaase. I forgot my lunch money today please help." The voice sounded high pitch behind her.

"Honoka, you do this every week. What happened to starting the year well?" This one was deeper and more mature sounding.

"Pleeeaaase I'm starving!" Eli pitied her a little; she sounded so desperate.

"Fine, but don't forget it tomorrow." The deeper voice gave in, and Eli smiled to herself.

When Eli reached the front, she requested a chicken sandwich, a pint of milk, some vegetables, and a small bag of chips. The employee manning the register accepted her cash and added most of it to her lunch account. Once Eli had paid, she took her food and emerged into the cafeteria.

The large space was filled with tables with chairs attached to them. They formed rows across the room, and many were already occupied by students. Eli looked around for anybody she'd met during the day, and her eyes landed on the orange haired girl who'd startled her in the orchestra room. She wondered if that girl would be ok if Eli sat with her. After taking one step towards the table, Eli stopped again. She saw another student, a different girl with short hair, though hers was brown, shuffle over to the table. The orange haired girl, whose name Eli couldn't remember, jumped out of her seat for a tackle hug. That was ok, Eli told herself as she took another step, meeting new people was ok. The other girl seemed fine with the hug, so maybe she'd be open to a new friend.

The next time she stopped, only two steps later, she didn't start again. This time a girl whose name she did remember joined the table. Nozomi practically skipped over and sat down next to the orange haired girl. She spoke animatedly to her tablemates, practically sparkling with happiness.

There was no way Eli was going over there now.

She looked around again, and spotted an empty table across the cafeteria. In order to get there she'd have to walk by the other girls, but as long as she didn't look at them they probably wouldn't notice her. She'd already embarrassed herself in front of Nozomi that day, so this was her best bet.

Eli looked dead ahead and started walking. She strolled right past the table without checking to see, and she hoped Nozomi hadn't looked over.

When Eli made it to the empty table she sat down and started eating her lunch. As she ate each part of her meal she sighed to herself. Just like at her old school, here she was eating alone. Oh well, it was a nice thought while it lasted. At least the food was better here.

* * *

After lunch Eli had World History, Spanish, and English left in the day.

World history went pretty well. Eli was actually able to find the room on time, and Ms. Kunikida seemed very genuine. She also seemed very passionate about history; already on the first day she went off on a tangent about World War II. She gave Eli a large textbook documenting world history from early hominids to modern times.

Spanish was a little rougher. Ms. Watanabe spoke only in Spanish for the whole class period, leaving Eli more confused than she had been in Physics. She knew a few vocab words and some grammar structures, but having the whole class be in Spanish was impossible for her. There was a homework assignment on the board, and Eli copied it down, but she wasn't sure what she was actually supposed to do. Hopefully she could figure it out later.

When Eli made it to English, she ran back into Nozomi. The other teen was already sitting in the room when Eli arrived, her back facing the door. Eli's heart rate picked up at the sight of her, and she sidled across the room carefully to avoid being noticed. Nozomi's head didn't turn, and Eli was able to take a seat in the last row. Once she sat down she tore her eyes away from the other girl, hoping that she couldn't feel the gaze on the back of her head for even that short amount of time.

When the bell rang the last of the students trickled in. A young blonde woman stood in front of the class and flashed a peace sign.

"Shiny!" She exclaimed. "My name is Ms. Ohara and I'll be teaching you English this year. We're going to be reading British Literature from throughout the centuries."

As the class went on, Eli almost forgot that Nozomi was also in the room. She liked English, especially the part where she got to read new books. The first one they were going to read was Frankenstein, and Ms. Ohara took a significant portion of the class period to assign each student a copy of the book.

When class dismissed, Eli took care to not be seen by Nozomi. She'd been avoiding the girl since they'd met that morning, so now she just had the final stretch to go. All Eli needed to do was go to the orchestra room, get her viola, and leave the building without being spotted. She waited in the English room until Nozomi left, sliding around the side of the tables to avoid her gaze.

Once the other girl was gone, along with almost every other student in the room, Eli set off for the orchestra room. She was pretty sure she knew how to get there, and managed to find it quickly. When she entered, there were already a few students present.

One of them, a young girl with some of her hair tied to one side, was perched on top of a tall stack of chairs. Two other students stood below her, looking up and calling to her. Their voices sounded familiar, but Eli wasn't quite sure where she'd heard them before. When Eli looked over at them, she wondered where Ms. Sakurauchi had gone, or if the band teacher was somewhere nearby to help with this situation.

"Honoka! Get down this instant!" The one with dark blue hair said firmly. She glared up with her arms aggressively crossed.

"No way!" The girl on the chairs insisted. She teetered back and forth, grinning broadly down at the others. The chairs creaked as she leaned, with only friction holding them upright.

"Honoka, it's dangerous." The other girl on the ground, the one with light grey hair done in a style Eli wasn't familiar with, fretted with both hands pulled together.

"It's totally safe!" The girl on the tower whose name must've been Honoka wasn't going to give this one up. Eli happened to agree with the two on the ground; the tower indeed looked unsafe to sit on.

She walked past them to her locker, opening it a little faster than she did earlier. Eli pulled the instrument out and locked the locker back up. As she approached the door, she nearly jumped out of her skin at a loud crash behind her.

When she turned to look, because she couldn't help herself, she saw that the top few chairs had fallen over with the girl still on them. She sat upright on the ground with her eyes crossed.

"Honoka! Are you okay?" The silver haired girl wanted to know as she hovered over her friend.

"Told you so." Said the other with one hand over her heart.

"I… I'm not…. I'm fine." The fallen child shook her head vigorously as she responded to her friends. One of the chairs had fallen on her legs, which she shoved off slowly.

"Don't ever do that again." The dark haired girl scolded.

"Whaaaaat?" The girl on the ground got to her feet, whining all the way. "That was fun! Let's do it again!"

The silver haired girl put one hand on the blue haired girl's arm to hold her back. "Honoka, that's probably not a good idea."

"Agreed."

Eli thought about going over there, but like many other times that day she decided not to.

She left the three behind, heading out of the building to where her car was parked. It was exactly where she left it, and after loading her belongings into the passenger seat she climbed in. After turning over a couple times the engine hummed to life, and Eli pulled out of her space to drive home.

As she drove she pondered the day she'd just had. She met new people, played some new music, nearly burned the school down, gained a history textbook, and got her own copy of Frankenstein all in one day. She also embarrassed herself in front of a bunch of people, but hopefully they would forget about that. Overall, it could've gone a lot worse.

* * *

September 12th

After just one week of school Eli was able to find all of her classes with ease. She knew exactly how to get from one to the next. If someone had asked her for directions to anywhere else in the building, she'd go right back to being lost. She also hadn't made any friends in the last week. Despite that, she was proud of her improvements.

On the second day of orchestra, Ms. Sakurauchi announced that they would be having chairing tests on the following Monday. Since then Eli had spent almost an hour each day preparing for the audition. They had to play a two octave scale of their choice, along with a couple passages from the Tchaikovsky. She practiced each part carefully, making sure she could play every note in tune and up to tempo.

On the day of the audition, Eli brought her viola to the orchestra room like she had every day for the last week. Things were the same as normal; the room itself was empty, the hallway was quiet, and a young redheaded girl was practicing in one of the side rooms. Eli had seen this girl every day practicing before school. She recognized her from the viola section, but didn't remember her name.

The morning before auditions, Eli stopped to listen on her way out. The redheaded girl was playing one of the assigned portions at tempo, and to Eli's ear she sounded pretty good. Each note was in tune and she maintained the tempo well. She hit each note with vibrato, and was able to play through the portion without stopping. At the end, after she put her viola down, she took a pencil off her stand and marked something in the part.

Eli took that as her cue to leave, and she strode towards the rest of the school. She knew there were a few strong players in the section, but she hadn't realized just how well one of them played. It was good that she'd practiced, or she might've been in trouble with the audition.

During pre calculus, Eli forced the chairing test out of her mind. Math had not proven easy over the first week, and Ms. Kurosawa's bluntness with the topic wasn't helping.

After class, she headed back to the orchestra room. Since she was able to find things easily now, Eli was actually making it to places early. She was one of the first students in the orchestra to arrive, and she quickly grabbed her viola to start warming up. After checking her tuning three times, she played through her scale of choice. It still sounded good, so she moved on the portions from the section. The boy who sat next to her, who usually didn't pay her much attention, arrived during her scales. He hadn't taken out his instrument yet, and was just staring at Eli as if she'd grown another head. She ignored him in favor of preparing for the audition.

The bell cut off her warm up, and Ms. Sakurauchi took to the podium. "Good morning class." She smiled warmly at them. "This morning we will be conducting our chairing auditions, starting with the first violins. The whole section will come out into the hall and perform individually in one of the practice rooms. The order will be first violins, second violins, violas, cellos, and then basses. We will tune as a class, and then the first violins will be up." She gestured for the same student as usual to stand and give an A. Eli had already tuned, but she made sure to check her strings again just to be safe.

Once everybody was tuned up, the first violins filed out into the hallway with Ms. Sakurauchi. Eli went right back to her warm up, getting ready for the audition. Almost every other student did the same, except for a small few. Eli didn't pay them any attention.

She kept playing as the first violinists returned and the second violinists left the room. When one of the violinists passed by Eli's left to head towards the first stand of violists, she hesitated in her playing to watch. The girl who passed her had her shoulder length black hair done up in pigtails, and she stood at a height that was much shorter than many of her classmates. She leaned up against the back of the redhead's chair, the same redhead Eli had seen practicing that morning, and tapped her on the shoulder. The redhead stopped playing, but didn't move other than that.

"Don't you want to hear about how my audition went?" The short teen said even when the other girl didn't turn to look at her.

"Go away." Was all the violist had to say.

"It went great, I'm gonna sit first stand for sure!" The other teen boasted, and though Eli couldn't see her face she was sure the standing teen was grinning. "You know, cramming won't help you now."

"We'll see." The violist continued playing, while the other girl huffed and retreated to her section. Eli resumed playing as well, focusing on one particular section.

She had put her instrument down to circle a crescendo in the music when she heard a voice to her left.

"You sound good." For the umpteenth time that week Eli twisted her head in surprise. The boy who'd been sitting next to her was gone, and the cellist she'd spent all week avoiding sat in his place. In an instinctive attempt to escape, Eli almost fell sideways out of her chair. She managed to stay in her seat, but couldn't keep her cheeks from flushing or her heart from racing.

"Th-thanks." Crap, again with the stuttering, Eli thought to herself. Before she could think of something more articulate to say, the second violins started re-entering the classroom. That meant it was time for the viola auditions.

"Good luck." Nozomi wished her cheerfully before allowing the boy to retake his seat. Eli watched her go in a daze, unsure of what had just happened. She shook her head to clear it; now was not the time to be spacing out, she had an audition to win.

After gathering the few pieces of paper she would need, Eli followed her section mates out into the hallway to compete for a chair. She was ready for this.


	3. Chapter 3

Glossary:

Inner Circle: A colloquial term for the first two players in each section of the orchestra. It is all of the students who sit in the front row of the orchestra. Does not include the first bass player. Can become its own clique, but not usually. The higher chaired member sits towards the outside of the circle. So from the podium the first violin player is all the way to the left, and the first cellist is all the way to the right.

Key Change: Keys are associated with scales. Each one has its own sharps or flats the be played throughout a piece. When the key changes, the player uses a different scale for sharps and flats.

Rosin: a hard rock like object that is sticky. String players apply it to the bow before playing to help make sound happen. It comes off on the instrument and needs to be cleaned often. Build ups of rosin residue can ruin strings and eat through the wood of an instrument.

Soli: like a solo, but for a whole section. All of the members of a section play a part that highlights their section.

* * *

As Eli followed her section into the hall, she realized that she did not know a single one of their names. She always thought about them in terms of appearance instead of by name. It had already been a week, so it wasn't socially acceptable to ask anymore. She'd just have to listen to other people talk to them to try and figure it out. The chairing list would help.

Sadly, this was part of the reason why she didn't have any friends yet.

When they reached the hallway, Ms. Sakurauchi was waiting for them. "Alright violas, I hope you all practiced. The order will be alphabetical by last name, so Eli you're first. Everyone else please wait out here until I call you." As usual, Eli had to go first. It was the curse of having a last name that started with the letter A.

She forced herself not to think about what just happened with Nozomi as she joined Ms. Sakurauchi in the practice room, putting her music down on the only stand present.

"Please start with your scale, whenever you're ready." Ms. Sakurauchi instructed her on what to do, taking a seat in front of the stand. Eli nodded, and put her viola up.

The rest of the audition was a blur. She played her scale and each portion, but for the life of her she couldn't remember how it went. It was all over very quickly, and she was soon back out with the rest of the violas. All of that time practicing, and her seat would be decided by one fast audition.

Eli listened as each member auditioned, since she could hear them through the door. There were a couple good players in the group, but she was confident she could beat them. The only that might've been better than her was the redheaded girl who practiced in the morning. When Ms. Sakurauchi called her to come play, Eli learned that her name was Maki Nishikino.

Just like with the others, Eli listened to each portion. Her scale was perfect, and each portion from the piece was played immaculately. Eli had to pick her jaw up on the floor, she was that impressed, before Maki emerged from the practice room. The only player after her was the boy Eli sat next to all week, and she wasn't expecting much from him.

To nobodies surprise the teen played terribly. He hit the wrong notes on his scale and couldn't even get through the portions at tempo. He was smiling when he came out of the room, so he must've thought it went okay.

The viola section went back to the rest of the orchestra and returned to their seats. Eli glanced over at the cellos as they left, but looked abruptly away when Nozomi returned her gaze. She pointedly put her viola up and started working on other parts of the piece that she hadn't needed to prepare for the audition.

The cellos audition time seemed to go quickly, and the basses went even faster. There were only a few minutes left in class by the time everybody was done, so Ms. Sakurauchi dismissed them to pack up and mill about the room until the bell.

Before Eli put her viola away she took a piece of cloth from her case and wiped the instrument down. It had served her well that day. She also wiped down the stick of her bow, since it had some rosin residue on it. Once her instrument was packed up she put it in her locker, then she went to wait at her seat.

The bell rang a minute later, and Eli stood to leave the class. She'd almost made it out of the room when she heard a voice say.

"Congrats on your audition." Eli spun around to her left to see who it was, but there wasn't anybody there. She looked around to see if somebody was playing a prank on her, but there truly wasn't anybody present. When she turned around to continue leaving, she saw Nozomi's pigtails exiting the wing into the main school. She didn't think anything of it as she headed to her next class.

* * *

The rest of Eli's classes went by pretty smoothly that day. Though she spent lunch alone, the macaroni and cheese was decent. She caught herself glancing in Nozomi's direction during English, and yanked her gaze back forward when the other girl smiled at her. When class ended for the day, she left to get her viola from the orchestra room. She made it there with no directional help required, which she celebrated internally as she arrived.

As Eli entered the orchestra room, she saw the three students who were usually there after school. Today they were sitting in three chairs in a circle and playing some kind of card game. The energetic one with orange hair had one of her hands hovered over the blue haired girls cards, and seemed to be trying to decide which one to take. The third girl watched with both hand clutched up to her face.

Eli walked past them like normal to get her instrument from her locker. With ease, she entered the combo to retrieve her precious cargo. Once it was in hand, she relocked the locker and headed towards the door.

"Hey wait!" A loud voice called after her. When Eli turned back to see, she was face to face with the orange haired girl. Eli jumped at how quickly the girl had approached her. "I've seen you so many times in the last week I wanted to introduce myself!" She said quickly. "I'm Honoka! What's your name?" She leaned in with each statement, pushing in on Eli's personal bubble.

Eli took a moment to step back before responding. "My name is Eli." She didn't mention how she'd seen the girl around as well, mostly making a fool herself.

"Hi Eli!" Honoka waved despite standing close. "Over there are my friends Kotori and Umi." She pointed to where the two were still playing cards. "I've known them forever, they're in the orchestra too." Both of Honoka's hands came up to point at her own chest. "I play the violin, and so does Kotori. Umi didn't want to." Honoka pouted, her hands dropping to her sides. "So she plays the cello."

"Honoka." The blue haired girl, who Eli figured must be Umi because she recognized her from the cello section, called over to the excited teen as she started walking towards them. "It's your turn, please leave the new student alone." The third girl, who could only be Kotori, was still sitting in the small circle. She stared down at her cards as if thinking deeply about them.

"One sec Umi." Honoka said to her friend as she arrived, then turned again to look at Eli. "You're in the viola section, right?"

"Yeah." Eli nodded once.

Honoka opened her mouth to respond as three more students entered the classroom. One of them was the student who tuned the orchestra every day, and the other two claimed seats high up in the 1st violin section. As they entered Honoka's eyes snapped to them, whatever words she was going to say lost. Umi seemed to pick up on the missed que.

"Maki is in the viola section, isn't that right Honoka?" She elbowed her friend in the side roughly.

"Wha?" Honoka looked at Umi, startled. "Oh, oh yeah! Maki plays the viola. I hope you get along with her!" She refocused on Eli with a grin, which Eli returned with half the strength.

"We've met, once." Eli mused. The after school bell rang overhead, and Eli looked up at the clock with surprise. "It's been nice meeting you," she said pleasantly. "But I have to go. See you tomorrow."

"Bye!" Honoka waved enthusiastically again, though Umi didn't replicate the action. Eli gave a small wave before taking her leave. She wasn't supposed to stay at school this late; her Grandmother expected her home to help with chores and do her homework. Arisa helped out too, but it was mostly Eli's responsibility.

Also, she needed to keep practicing. Even though the chairing test was over she needed to keep working on perfecting her parts. No matter where she ended up sitting, Eli wanted to play well.

* * *

September 13th

The next day, Eli wasn't that concerned about the chairing assignments. She'd practiced hard and done her best, so there was no reason to fret about it. Despite that sentiment, her heart still raced as she approached the orchestra room for class. When she entered the room, she saw most of the students gathered around the board.

At closer perusal, a piece of paper was taped up on the whiteboard. It contained the chairing order for each section. Eli waited patiently while others looked at it, telling her heart to give it a rest. Once they moved to find their seats she stepped forward to look. The viola section order read:

1\. Maki Nishikino

2\. Eli Ayase

3\. Seira Kujo

4\. Akemi Kikuchi

5\. Eric Adler

6\. Rebecca Smith

7\. Yuu Aizawa

8\. Fred Shinson

Second in the section, Eli thought to herself, not half bad. Maki had played so well the day before, she couldn't argue with that decision. Before sitting down Eli made note of the inner circle. The first stand first violins were Tsubasa Kira and Nico Yazawa. The first stand second violins were Erena Toudou and Yuuki Anju. For the cellos it was Coco Miyashita and Nozomi Toujou. Eli smiled at that; even though she didn't know Nozomi that well, she was a little proud of the other teen. The first bassist was Kanata Konoe. Eli's new acquaintances, Rin, Honoka, Kotori, and Umi were all scattered in the violin section. Honoka was sitting third in the first violins, which was actually quite impressive to Eli, considering what she knew about the girl. Kotori was sitting second violin fourth chair, while Rin sat second violin eighth chair. Umi, in the cello section, sat fourth. Satisfied, Eli turned from the list to take her seat in the front of the section.

Maki, whose name Eli learned the day before, was already sitting in her seat. She was playing through scales and getting warmed up. Eli took the seat to her right, putting her stuff down to each side. She cast her gaze over to Maki without turning her head; the other girl hadn't reacted to her arrival. Maki's music was already on the stand, so Eli didn't bother pulling hers out. She took her viola out of the case and started getting ready for class.

A few minutes later, everybody had seen the chairing list. As Ms. Sakurauchi helped the last few stragglers find their seats, Eli looked around at the inner circle. Much to her surprise, she actually recognized almost all of the people present.

In the first violins, she'd definitely seen the first chair player before. Just the day before she'd seen the girl come in the orchestra room after school, along with the first stand of second violins. So they were Tsubasa, Erena, and Anju. The girl with the short pigtails must've been Nico. Eli had seen her before too, when she came over to the viola section to talk to Maki the other day.

When Eli looked left she already knew who Maki was, and much to her embarrassment she'd spoken with Nozomi a couple times. Nozomi was looking back at her, and their eyes made contact. Eli jerked her gaze over to the other cellist, fighting to keep a flush off her face. How did Nozomi know when she was looking? Was she psychic or something? Anyway, Eli had never seen Coco before, but one out of seven wasn't a bad percent of unknown people.

Once Ms. Sakurauchi finished helping Fred, the student Eli sat next to for the first week, find his way to the back of the section, she stepped up to the podium to address the class.

"Good morning students, and welcome to your new seats. These will be your chairs for the year. During the year if you want to try to move up in your section you can challenge for a higher seat." Eli listened carefully as Ms. Sakurauchi spoke. "The way this works is at the start of class you will raise your hand. You will then request to challenge. Challenges will occur after class between the person who challenged and the person who sits one chair above them. I will pick a part from one of our pieces for both of you to play, and the challenging player will go first." That made sense to Eli. "Whichever player plays better will get the higher seat. I will give preference to the currently higher seated player in case of a tie. You may challenge only once a week. Any questions?" Ms. Sakurauchi looked around the room, but no students raised their hands.

Eli thought it sounded like an interesting concept. They did something similar at her old school, but it required large parts of the section to play instead of just two people. Challenging might be something she did later, but it wasn't on the schedule for now. She was comfortable sitting second, and stirring the pot with a challenge probably wasn't the best way to start the year.

"If there are no questions, then we'll get started." Ms. Sakurauchi continued with class. "Open up the finale of the Tchaikovsky. We're going to play from the key change half way down the first page." She waited for moment for all of them to find it, which Eli was able to do with ease. The markings were different than what she was used to, but Maki had still done a good job noting changes. "It's in C major now, so don't keep playing those F sharps." Ms. Sakurauchi instructed them. She waited a moment until they looked like they were ready, then raised her baton. "Alright, lets take it from here." She counted off two beats, then they were off.

Eli played along with the piece, working extra hard on playing very quietly to match the dynamics. She went way too big with the crescendo, granting her a glance from Maki mid piece, but she didn't really care about that. They played until part B, where the key changed again, and then stopped.

Ms. Sakurauchi gave some advice to each section, then had them play it again. They played it many times until it was time to pack up. Ms. Sakurauchi dismissed the class a few minutes early to put their instruments away.

While Eli was packing up, the girl to her left finally spoke. "I'm Maki." She was looking right at Eli, so Eli assumed she was talking to her.

"My name's Eli." Eli responded, meeting the girls unusual purple gaze.

"We'll be working together this year." Maki added as she fiddled with her hair.

"Yeah." Eli could only nod in agreement. She didn't say anything else as she finished putting her instrument away, and then depositing it in her locker. She thought about congratulating Nozomi on sitting first stand, but couldn't bring herself to do it. Eli just left to enjoy the rest of her day, looking over her music in later classes when the teachers weren't watching..

* * *

Later that day, after Eli had gone home, she ate dinner with her Grandmother and Arisa. They sat around a small table together, sharing a relatively easy to make dinner of spaghetti with meat sauce. Eli helped make the pasta, but the meat sauce was all her Grandmother's recipe. The family started eating at around 6:00 pm.

It didn't take long for Eli's Grandmother to bring up her favorite topic. "Eli," She asked gently, "How did orchestra go today?" Eli understood what was actually being asked, and for the first time felt some shame at her seating assignment.

"We got our seats, and I am sitting second chair." Eli admitted quietly, looking down at her food. She nudged the sauce around the edges with her fork.

"Oooh." Arisa commented with a smirk. "Whatever shall you do?" That was rich, coming from her. She played the piano, and didn't have to fight for a chair in the first place.

"We can challenge for higher chairs." Eli squinted her eyes at her sister in annoyance. "But I'm not sure I want to." She was kind of comfortable at second chair.

"Hah." Her Grandmother scoffed. "Of course you want to. Nobody plays better than my Elichika!" Eli thought she really believed it too; her Grandmother attended every performance she could and always gave a standing ovation for her grandchildren.

"The first chair player is very good." Eli couldn't help but add; she'd been impressed with Maki's audition. It wasn't like Eli had blown her audition, the other player had just been better.

"You have to challenge sis, for the family pride." Arisa just didn't know when to leave it alone.

"Shhh." Eli hissed at her sister.

"Arisa is right." Her Grandmother spoke firmly. "You will challenge for the first seat."

"I…" Eli looked back and forth between them a couple times before letting out a heavy sigh. "Fine."

"That's my girl." Her Grandmother smiled softly as she returned to eating her dinner. Eli stabbed her pasta with her fork in a jerking motion, swirling it in short bursts. She'd lost this one. For the rest of dinner Eli listened as Arisa talked about her new friends at school, and once Eli was done eating and cleaning the dishes she retreated to her room to practice.

If she was going to challenge, the best day to do it would be tomorrow. If she let Maki practice for a while first and get used to leading the section, there was a good chance Eli wouldn't win. She needed to practice that night to be ready to challenge.

When she looked at the pieces they were playing, one spot in in the Tchaikovsky stood out to her. It was a viola soli they'd played a couple times in the last week, but hadn't spent too much time on yet. Eli figured it was a likely target for a challenge, so she decided to practice it.

Eli worked on it for about an hour, then spent some time on other parts of the music. By the time she went to bed she was confident that she could give Maki a run for her money. At the very least she would try, for her Grandmother.

* * *

End Note: If this fic was actually really boring, would you tell me? Don't answer that.


	4. Chapter 4

Author Note: How many words does it take to have an introduction? When I said slow burn I meant it.

* * *

Glossary:

Time Signature: Every piece starts with a time signature. They contain two numbers stacked on top of each other with a division sign between them. One of the most common is 4/4. It means that every measure has four beats. In 3/4 every measure has 3 beats. In 6/8 every measure has 6 beats. They set the rhythm and pace of a piece. Sometimes they change in the middle, but usually they don't.

Intonation: How in tune something is. If it is sharp it is slightly too high, and if it is flat then it is slightly too low. Strings struggle with intonation, because each individual note has a chance to be out of tune. Each string needs to be tuned correctly, and then each finger needs to be put in exactly the right place.

Fingerings: The finger patterns for playing a part. The left hand can play a part with a lot of different patterns, and players will often collaborate to find the best sounding and most effective ones. Sometimes the teacher will dictate fingerings for a student to facilitate technique. Often used to get high school violists to shift when they don't want to. Shifting is when the left hand moves to a different position on the neck of the instrument. It's an advanced technique, and something viola players don't do often at the high school level. Violinists do it all the time though.

Section Leader: The first player in the section. Depending on the teacher, the section leader can have differing levels of authority. Some have almost none, while others are responsible for helping the section improve. They also run sectionals.

Tuning Pegs: The strings on stringed instruments are held in place by four black pegs at the end of the neck. They use friction to stay in place, and are key to tuning. When it gets cold outside, they shrink a tiny bit and stringed instruments everywhere slip dramatically out of tune. Held in by friction and by fitting correctly in the hole. You have to apply inward force or they slip immediately.

Tuner: A device that listens to a note being played and shows how close it is to being in tune. They can also play a note to tune to. Many high schoolers carry ones that also function as metronomes, which are used to keep time. They play the beats out loud to help prevent rushing or tearing.

Body Language: Something Eli does not understand.

* * *

September 14th

In the morning, Eli got up at the same time as usual. She ate some breakfast, loaded up her car, and drove to school. She arrived around the same time as normal and took her instrument to put it away, just like she did the day before. The orchestra room was empty, like it always was in the morning.

On her way out, she heard the sound of the viola soli coming from one of the practice rooms. They lined the music wing, and each one had a small window in the door. Eli stopped by the window and looked in. Maki sat with her back to the door, intently playing the viola soli at half speed. She played each note carefully, making sure to hit them right and with the correct fingerings. She applied vibrato, something she probably wouldn't do at full speed.

Eli sighed internally; the competition would be stiff. She knew Maki was good, but every time she heard the girl play she sounded better and better. Eli was already committed to this though; she had to do it. As Eli walked away, she wondered if it would be rude to ask what Maki what fingerings she used before challenging on the part. She decided that, yes, it would probably be rude.

Eli spent her first class unsuccessfully trying to focus on math, and then she was back for orchestra. She entered the class without talking to anybody. Her viola was soon retrieved from her locker, and Maki wasn't there yet as Eli sat down in her chair. At her seat, she took out her viola and tuned up. Once she was tuned, Eli started playing through the pieces. She made sure to hit each note in tune and at the right dynamics. She thought about adding some vibrato, but decided to save it for later.

When Maki sat down next to her, she didn't seem to think twice about Eli warming up so fervently. The rest of the orchestra filtered in, and a few minutes later Ms. Sakurauchi took to the podium as the bell rang.

"Good morning students." She greeted them all with a small wave. "We're going to be working on the first movement of the Tchaikovsky today, so please take your music out." As she was talking, Eli took a deep breath and raised her right hand high in the air. "Ah, yes, Eli, do you have a question?" Ms. Sakurauchi gestured towards Eli with one hand.

"I would like to challenge." Eli said a little quicker than intended. She fought a flush as the whole orchestra looked her way. To Eli's left, Maki had turned to stare at the older student, her purple eyes narrowed. Ms. Sakurauchi blinked once as if surprised, but recovered almost immediately.

"Very well, we'll have the viola section leader challenge after class today." She then looked up to address the rest of the class, and started them on playing the middle of the first movement.

Though Eli hadn't been that nervous for the chairing test, as class went on she found herself growing anxious about the challenge. With each passing minute, more butterflies fluttered around in her stomach, and she felt like her heart was protesting the whole time. Her playing suffered too as the class went on; she missed a few entrances while trying to calm herself.

The end of class finally came, and the rest of the orchestra packed up. As the others started to leave, Ms. Sakurauchi came over to the two girls remaining in their seats.

"So I've been thinking about which part to have you play." Ms. Sakurauchi stood right in front of their stand. "And I've decided on the soli in the first movement of the Tchaikovsky." Perfect, Eli thought to herself, she'd practiced that. "The challenger will play first, so Eli you're up."

Eli flipped to the right page, put her viola up, took a deep breath, and started playing. She played at tempo, making sure to hit each note exactly on beat and give it the right amount of emphasis. The notes flew from her bow, and to Eli's ear they sounded in tune. When she finished, she put her viola down and smiled.

Maki was next, and Ms. Sakurauchi gestured for her to take her turn. She put her viola up and started to play. It sounded good, Eli had to admit, but there was something a little off that day. Perhaps the other girl was nervous, and it affected her intonation. When she finished playing, her eyes shimmered with emotion. When Maki noticed Eli watching, she turned her face abruptly towards the front.

Eli looked back to Ms. Sakurauchi, who was looking between them as she thought. Eli felt pretty good about her performance. She had practiced that part a lot, and her intonation was stronger than Maki's. But Maki's lyricism was probably better than hers, and she used vibrato. Those things could set the two of them apart. After a minute, the teacher came to a decision.

"You both played very well, and it was a close contest, but Eli wins this challenge. Tomorrow she will sit first and Maki, you will sit second."

She won.

Eli actually won. All of the weight lifted of her shoulders as she grinned for the first time since switching schools. Eli put her viola in its case and turned to mention how close it was to Maki, but the girl was already gone. After Eli packed up, Ms. Sakurauchi wrote her a hall pass and she practically skipped to physics.

Eli spent the rest of the day bouncing from class to class excitedly. During lunch she texted Arisa to give her the good news. All she got back in response was a sarcastic emoticon, but it was better than nothing.

After school, upon arriving home, Eli told her grandmother the news.

"That's my girl." Was all the older woman had to say.

* * *

September 15th

Another day, another orchestra class, but this was no ordinary orchestra class. Eli arrived on time and felt a trill of joy when she saw the first chair from the door. She was in the process of getting her viola from her locker when a familiar voice sounded near her ear.

"Congrats on winning your challenge!" When Eli turned her head she saw the girl she'd met the first day of school standing to her left. If she remembered correctly, the girl's name was Rin.

"Thanks." Eli responded politely as she removed the instrument from its locker.

"Maki was kind of upset yesterday, but she says you were awesome." Rin continued with a grin. "I gotta go warm up. See you in a bit." Rin grabbed her violin from her own locker and scurried off towards the second violin section. Eli soon followed to take her new seat.

Maki was already sitting second chair when Eli walked up, and she didn't even look when Eli took her seat. A small smile found its way to Eli's lips, but it vanished when another voice interrupted her reverie.

"It looks like we're seat partners now." Chimed a melodic voice to her left. She turned her head slowly, already suspecting who she was going to see. Nozomi looked excitedly over at her, waving with her bow. Eli inhaled sharply, how had she forgotten that Nozomi sat second cello? Now they would sit next to each other, and Eli would have many more chances to continue embarrassing herself.

"Hi." Eli managed to spit out.

Nozomi leaned in, carefully balancing her cello so it wouldn't fall. "I'm glad we sit near each other, I've been wanting to get to know you better." Something about her demeanor beckoned Eli closer.

"Really?" Eli tilted her head and moved her legs toward the left side of her chair.

"Yeah, since I never introduced myself the first time we met." Nozomi reached out with her bow, pointing it towards Eli. "I'm Nozomi, nice to meet you."

"My name's Eli." Eli returned the gesture, gently bumping her bow against Nozomi's. They made eye contact, and Eli wondered if green eyes were always that pretty. After a heartbeat of eye contact Nozomi burst out in giggles. Eli grinned weakly at her, charmed despite herself. The bell rang a second after, and Eli had to turn towards the front. In her peripheral vision, she caught the second chair first violinist glaring at her with angry pink eyes, only for the pigtailed girl to look away abruptly.

As Ms. Sakurauchi started class, Eli wondered what would change now that she was section leader. In between portions she looked back at the section, looking over each member carefully. She tried to listen for mistakes, but had trouble pinpointing which member of the section was making the error. She was pretty sure the fourth violist kept playing with the wrong bows, but she couldn't actually watch while she was playing. Eli made a note on the part to look at later.

As class went on, she was able to recognize a part that the section was struggling with and write it down. She also marked the soli, since when they played it, it sounded terrible. As the second chair violist it wouldn't have mattered, but as the section leader it was Eli's responsibility to help the section play the part.

When class ended, Eli thought about saying something to the section, but decided against it. She had only been their leader for one day after all, she still needed to learn their names before actually talking to them.

After Eli packed up, Nozomi waved goodbye to her on her way out of the orchestra room. She waved back, then headed out to the rest of her day.

During lunch, Eli looked over her music at the spots that she'd marked. She checked her bow markings again, making sure she liked them enough to share with the section. She looked for spots to mark shifts, even though the section probably wouldn't be able to execute them effectively. In addition, she marked the harder parts with fingerings to suggest to the section.

Making sure not to spill food on her music, Eli smiled to herself as she worked through the task. Having something to do for the orchestra warmed her, even as the weather grew colder.

* * *

September 22nd

The week after Eli won her spot as the section leader, Ms. Sakurauchi gave the class one day of sectionals. The concert was in one month, and each section had a lot of work to do to prepare. She sent the viola section to one of larger practice rooms in the hallway. Over the last week Eli had learned all of their names, though she hadn't actually practiced using them yet. She also started learning about their playing styles.

The second chair player was Maki, who Eli had competed with for the first chair. She sat to Eli's right and had dark red hair with purple eyes. She by far the strongest player in the rest of the section. Eli almost never heard her play out of tune, and she always corrected her mistakes without needing assistance. Despite no longer sitting first chair, she still practiced every morning before school. Sometimes, she played better than Eli.

Sitting third chair was Seira. She sat right behind Eli and had brown hair in a shoulder length cut. Her clothes were often fashionable, though what exactly made her clothes that way escaped Eli. Tempo wise she usually played well, but she had a tendency to slip out of tune. Her stand partner helped her with that.

Fourth chair was Akemi. She had short bobbed light brown hair with light pink glasses frames over her eyes. She worked well with Seira, since intonation was one of her strong points. On her weak side, she often played a little out of time or with the wrong bowings. Seira helped her by cueing for entrances. The two of them worked well together on the second stand.

In the fifth chair was Eric. He stood at about average height with short blonde hair. His playing was pretty average, and he struggled with bow direction. Whenever Eli looked back his bow was always going the wrong way.

Rebecca sat next to him in the sixth chair. She always pulled back her long hair into a ponytail to play so it wouldn't be in her face. She hit notes well, but her instrument itself was often out of tune. Eric tried to help her with it, but between the two of them they couldn't even tune the A string properly.

The last stand consisted of Yuu and Fred. Yuu sat seventh chair and had long blonde hair. She played well in the group, but when she had to play alone it all fell apart. Her auditions never went well.

Her standmate Fred fell apart in every situation. He couldn't keep his strings in tune, couldn't keep his bow going the right direction, and couldn't keep things from collapsing around him

As a whole, the viola section played slightly above average. The stronger players were able to produce enough sound to cover up the weaker players out of tune noises. At sectionals, the part they needed to practice the most was the soli. As of that day, only Eli and Maki could play it at tempo. The second stand had it at close to tempo, while the last four players could barely play it at half speed.

The violists took all of their belongings with them, including their instrument cases, to the practice room. They made one more trip for extra stands, which they arranged in a small circle, and then they were ready to start practicing. Eli took one of the stands, which she shared with Maki.

The first part of practicing was getting in tune. Eli was able to tune her instrument quickly, checking each string in succession and assuring their intonation. Maki finished at about the same time, but the rest of the section was still working on it. Fred was fighting with his A string peg as usual, so Eli walked over to help him.

She stopped right next to him, watching him attempt to tune the instrument with relative apathy. He never asked for help from anybody, and he never actually got in tune. Even when he got the peg to stick, it was still too flat.

Eli finally asked him. "How's it going?"

"I've got it." He said without looking up from the task. After he spoke the peg slipped again.

"Try applying inward pressure as you turn the peg." Even though he said he had it, Eli still offered advice. "The friction will help hold the peg in place." Fred looked up at her in surprise, before immediately returning to his pegs.

Eli moved on to the other members; hopefully he'd get his act together by the time the rest of the section was ready. While she was talking to Fred most of the section had finished tuning. Only Rebecca was still working on her strings. As Eli stepped over to her, she smiled at her section leader. When Eli looked down at Rebecca's music stand, she noticed something odd.

"Do you have a tuner?" Eli asked the other girl.

"Nope." Rebecca responded with a cheeky grin, and Eli turned to her stand mate Eric. When her gaze fell on him, he flinched as if struck. That stung a little, but she could live with it.

"I-I have one." He stuttered as he crouched down and dug through his viola case. When he stood up, he had the tuner in hand. "Here y-you go Rebecca." He turned the device on and set it on the stand, and Rebecca thanked him enthusiastically.

Eli left them to finish tuning, hoping they could do the rest without her. She went back to her stand, where Maki was already warming up. Eli stopped next to her and turned to look back at the rest of the section.

It looked like they were ready to go, since nobody was tuning any more. Eli cleared her throat before speaking.

"Alright, so it looks like everybody's ready. We're going to practice the soli today, so flip to that page." Wow, Eli thought to herself, she'd actually said that without messing it up. She watched as Maki flipped to the soli, which was marked in the music with a large box drawn around it.

Once they were all on the right page, Eli told them to play at half speed. She set the metronome to keep time for the group. They put their violas up, and as section leader Eli counted them off.

For Eli, playing the soli at half speed was relatively easy. For some of her section members it was very difficult. Yuu, Fred, Rebecca, and Eric were already falling behind in the first playing of it.

Despite that, the group made it through. Then Eli made them play it again.

They played the soli over and over again, with marginal improvements by the end of the hour. Eli thought sectionals went decently, but only time would tell. The violists packed up their instruments and took everything back to the orchestra room before heading off to the rest of their day.

Eli had just finished putting her instrument in her locker and was about to leave when a familiar teen stopped her. This was the third time the violinist Rin had approached her, and she was just as friendly as before.

"Hey there!" Rin jumped forward an inch as part of her greeting. "How did your sectionals go?"

Eli mustered a smile for the girl. "Pretty well."

"That's awesome!" She truly seemed to mean it too. "The second violin sectionals were suuuuper fun!" Eli wondered how this girl contained all of her excitement under her skin. "I know we haven't known each other for long, but are you doing anything after school today?" Eli's blood ran cold; was this what she thought it was? Was it even possible? Before she could formulate a response, Rin continued. "I'm staying after to practice with my best friend, and we were wondering if you could join us." Eli let out an internal sigh of relief as she looked down at Rin's hopeful face.

"Thank you for inviting me." Eli had to run some errands with her Grandmother that day. "But I can't make it today. Maybe some other time." The warning bell rang in the distance, sending a jolt down Eli's spine. Crap, she thought, at this rate she would be late for physics. She took a step towards the door as Rin shot off like a bolt of lightning.

"Next time for sure!" Rin called back over her shoulder as she zoomed out of the room. Eli followed at a brisk walk, and by the time she reached the hallway Rin was gone. She chuckled to herself, then picked up the pace. She couldn't afford to be late to Ms. Tsushima's class again.


End file.
